Livin' in the 'Hood 3

Walk to school yesterday got a little faster when my walking companion got a text from her teenage daughter that she was having an asthma attack at high school. So L had to run grab the kindergartener out of school early then head for the high school. Last time it happened to the teenager she passed right out cold and the school had to call an ambulance. Same teenager already has issues since a tip to the dentist revealed that as suspected her TMJ is out of line and needs treatment. So a call was made to the specialist and guess what? That costs $230 just to walk in the door and get an appointment. Up front. No direct billing. And the insurance won't cover it. At least not unless the specialist direct bills, the insurance refuses it and then it gets appealed. But the specialist won't direct bill anyway.

AND that's $230 just to get in to see him, no treatment, nothing. Like most of us L doesn't have a spare $230, plus everything that'd come afterwards, in her pocket to pull out at the drop of a hat. So how is the teenager supposed to get the treatment she needs?

Everything is getting more expensive, almost by the day, and people have less and less money left over after they pay the bills, rent/mortgage, buy food, pay school fees, insurance etc. Especially around here. I know too many people here who were living pay check to pay check because there was never anything left over, only now, as the cost of everything is rising and wages are not keeping pace it's not so much living pay check to pay check as can we make it from one pay check to the next? Or, who can wait till the next pay check and who NEEDS to be paid now. Between what groceries/clothes/school stuff do we need now and what can wait until the next pay check?

It's not just a few facing those dilemmas nowadays, it's an ever increasing number of people as the cost of everything rockets. Something is very off in the 'Hood and getting ever more off as time goes by.